NJPW News: Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho gets 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer

What’s the story?

Respected Pro Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer, has awarded a five-star rating to the Wrestle Kingdom 12 match between Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho.

In case you didn’t know…

Bullet Club leader Kenny Omega and former WWE World Champion Chris Jericho collided with each other in a mega dream match at this year’s Wrestle Kingdom 12 show which took place on the 5th of January at the Tokyo Dome. Omega and Jericho battled each other in a brutal no disqualification match, with the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship on the line.

The two Winnipeg stars wrestled each other for a total of 36 minutes in front of an absolutely tremendous crowd at the Tokyo Dome and at the end of the contest, it was Omega who stood tall as he retained his championship following a wicked One-Winged Angel to Jericho on top of a steel chair.

The heart of the matter

Earlier today, Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer finally revealed his ratings for this year’s Wrestle Kingdom 12 show and the brutal co-main event between Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho has received a total of 5 stars from Meltzer, and it is the highest rated match of the Wrestle Kingdom 12 pay-per-view.

The match itself lived up to its expectations and was hugely hyped ever since Jericho made his return to NJPW in 2017. This was also the first time Chris Jericho has earned himself a five star rating match, however, on the other hand, this was the fifth 5 plus star match Kenny Omega has had since his last year’s Wrestle Kingdom clash against Kazuchika Okada which was rated as 6 stars by Dave Meltzer.

What’s next?

As for Kenny Omega, The Cleaner has apparently signed a new contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling which will keep him in Japan until January of 2019. Omega’s next US Title defence is scheduled to take place later this month in Sapporo against ‘Switchblade’ Jay White, who recently turned down an offer to join the Bullet Club and has instead joined Okada’s faction Chaos.

Meanwhile, Chris Jericho might also stick to NJPW for a while now and it is likely that his next big match in Japan will be against LIJ leader Tetsuya Naito.

Author’s Take

Omega and Jericho’s match at WK 12 was tremendously good and it totally deserves a star rating from Dave Meltzer, in my opinion.